Good afternoon Cougar Community!

I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays with family and friends! We welcomed 2025 this week with a short, 2-day school week, but we are excited for continued learning and growth in 2025!

Monday's weather forecast is predicting snow. We want everyone to be prepared for the potential need for a Flexible Instruction Day (FID). DASD will send a message early Monday morning (around 5:45AM). Caregivers should check email and check ClassDojo. While younger kids may have QR codes for Zooms, teachers may also post links on their Class Dojos. This FID day, if we have it, will begin at 9AM and end at 1:35 PM. Teachers will provide instruction at the beginning of the lesson, and may dismiss students to work in breakout rooms, with support of instructional assistants, or independently. Their Zoom rooms will remain open for questions throughout this timeframe. While I am confident the day will go well if it is FID, fingers crossed we see everyone in school on Monday!

We are looking toward the 2025-2026 school year as all schools in DASD will have FULL DAY KINDERGARTEN! Our NEW STUDENT REGISTRATION has been open for a month now, so please be sure to register your incoming student, go to District's webpage. Tell your neighbors and friends too.

We will be holding a Kindergarten Open House for incoming prospective kindergarten students on Wednesday, January 8th from 4-4:45 PM. Please RSVP at the link below.

Lastly, DASD will be showing the movie, "Screenagers, Elementary School Age Edition" will be shown at East Ward on January 14 from 6-7:30 PM. Please join us to view the movie and participate in a conversation afterward with fellow parents and professionals about the film's main takeaways. More information including a link to a movie trailer and registration to attend is below. I am looking forward to seeing you there!

Your Proud Principal,

Dr. Argonish

Now that registration is open for the 2025-2026 school year, we want to be sure every prospective kindergarten family is aware we have Full Day Kindergarten available to ALL students next year! We will be holding an Open House for students and families to become familiar with kindergarten. Our Open House is scheduled for January 8, 2025 from 4-4:45 PM. Please be sure to RSVP so we know who to expect. The picture below goes directly to the registration. We look forward to seeing you on January 8!

Congratulations to our December, Cougars of the month!! These students really demonstrated our expectations of being Respectful, Responsible, Safe and Kind! I am hoping to announce our December Cougars on morning broadcast on Tuesday, so I am hoping you can keep the secret until then. Once we make the announcement, I will update this edition of the news to include a group picture!

“Magic Story Time”, where students and Parents can come and listen to stories from 7pm to 8pm in their pajamas.

In wanting to create a positive and reflective model for our Building Equity Task Force, our Books selected are aligned with the cultural initiatives set fourth by the district for our story time session.
Parents will join their children and be available for question and answer sessions after stories are read for further positive discussion.

The goal is to get…

*books of different cultures and traditions read to students

*get students inquisitive about the beauty of books and their stories

*get students to ask questions in an open setting with parents as a guide

*to deepen our community as a whole

*an opportunity for students to check those books out at a later time if they wanted to.

Thank you for the possibilities of making this a big success. Truly appreciate all of you.
Hope to see you in the iDesign Room (Next to library-2nd floor) on February 12th at 7:00 PM!
- Brian Hearns

The DASD Preschool Outreach Group will be holding a series of free events throughout the school year for preschool students who will be attending DASD kindergarten in the coming year. The goal of these events is to familiarize the children and their families with DASD and to help support the children's kindergarten readiness.

The DASD Preschool Outreach webpage continues to be updated and RSVP's added. The next outreach will be Books and PJ's on January 6th (Shamona Creek) and 7th (Pickering Valley). RSVP can be accessed on the preschool outreach page.

Second Step lessons this month are focusing on empathy and kindness. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. I don't need to have experienced what others are going through in order to feel empathy for them, I can imagine "putting myself in their shoes". Practicing empathy can help us to be a better friend and a more patient and understanding person.

We always talk at East Ward about how everyone matters. Showing empathy, kindness, and including others puts our words into action. By ensuring that everyone feels included and welcome at our school, we help to demonstrate that they do matter and that they are valued.

How can I help my child practice empathy?

• Point out the feelings of others as you read books or talk about your day. Help students imagine how they might feel if they were in a similar situation.
• Ask students questions like "what might you need if you were that character/person? How would you want to be treated?"
• Encourage students to ask questions about our differences. Sometimes students are afraid to talk about noticed differences because they're under the impression that it's bad or negative. There's nothing wrong with respectfully asking questions. It's how we learn more about each other and practice respect.
• When asking about their day, ask questions like "who did you include today?" or "how did you show kindness today?" Our focus and attention shows what is worthy of focus and attention.

Counseling lessons this month align with the social-emotional topic of empathy/kindness in an effort to have consistent language and focus across the school day. You'll find linked the take-away note that will be posted to Class Dojo after each lesson.

K - Size of the Problem

1st - Inclusion

2nd - No lesson this month!

3rd - Kindness

4th - Relaxation/Coping Techniques

5th - Teasing

Hot Cocoa Breath: Pretend you're holding a mug of hot cocoa/hot chocolate. First, breathe in the delicious scent through your nose. Then, do a nice, long breath out through your mouth to cool down the cocoa. Then, drink it!

Dr. Katie Rastetter, School Counselor

krastetter@dasd.org

610-269-8282 ext 23040

Wednesday, 1/1- School Closed- Winter Recess

Thursday, 1/2- School Re-Opens

Monday & Tuesday, 1/6 & 1/7- Preschool Outreach Event- Books & PJ's

Wednesday, 1/8- Science and Math Game Show Assembly- 2:30 PM

Wednesday, 1/8- Kindergarten Open House- 4-4:45- Link to Register above

Tuesday, 1/14- Screenagers- EW LGI 6-7:30 PM- See Event Flyer below

Monday, 1/20- School Closed - Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Monday, 1/20- East Ward Day of Service- More info to come

Friday, 1/24- Pizza Bingo- 6:00 PM

Riding and Reading- January

Travel is just the thing to get young minds moving. Turn travel time during a family trip into a great

bonding and learning adventure with activities that build language for literacy and boost kids’ brain

development. Don’t forget to pack your imagination!

What to bring

Music. Before your trip, take time to make a sing-along playlist of family favorites. (Remember to bring whatever you need to connect your mobile device to the car stereo and keep it charged.) On the road, get kids listening by asking them to keep an ear out for certain words or sounds and clapping when they hear them. Then get them singing along!

With the car stereo off, try teaching each other classic kids’ songs, folk songs, Sesame Street and Disney tunes, the national anthem, or Broadway hits. You’ll find lyrics online or you can show kids how they can make their own music by inventing new verses to songs like “If You’re Happy and You Know It.”

Books. Invest some time before your trip in choosing some audio books the whole family can listen to. Search for recommendations in Reading Rockets list of Favorite Audio Books (http://www.readingrockets.org/articles/books/audiobooks) or ask your librarian for ideas. Your public library may have books on CD that you can borrow or lend electronic audio books you can download to your device. Choose audio books that will stimulate discussion, like classics or books on topics of interest to everyone in your family.

Look too for audio books of stories you’ve shared with your child, and plan to talk about how the reader’s interpretation is similar or different from yours, especially if the audio book reader is the author! If you are listening to picture books, bring along a copy so kids can look at the illustrations while listening.

Let kids pack some favorite titles to look at, to read to you, or have read aloud to them while you’re on the road. And bring along some new books, too. A new release by a favorite author or a new book in a beloved series will add excitement to your trip.

Stories. Family stories, tales of road trips past, adventures of your youth stories, and stories and facts

about your destination do more than pass the time on the road. As kids hear and learn from the successes, mistakes, values, and ideas in your stories, their understanding of how to have their own adventures —

and their own stories — will grow.

As you share stories, give your child a chance to ask questions and offer his perspective. Storytelling is more fun if everyone gets a chance to tell a story! Try telling a memorable family story with everyone taking turns or turn family photos into family stories. Have photos on your mobile device or bring along copies of

pictures and share stories about the people and the places important to your family.

As the winter season settles in, many people wonder about the relationship between cold weather and getting sick. While cold temperatures themselves don’t directly cause illness, they can contribute to conditions that make us more susceptible to getting sick.

Here’s how:

• Indoor Crowding: In colder months, we tend to spend more time indoors, increasing the likelihood of virus transmission.

• Dry Air: Cold air is often dry, and heating systems can further reduce humidity levels. This dry air can dry out the mucous membranes in our noses, making it easier for viruses to invade our bodies.

• Weakened Immune Response: Exposure to cold can affect the immune system’s ability to fend off infections.

Stay Healthy This Winter!

To keep your family healthy during the winter months, consider the following tips:

• Dress Warmly: Layer up! Wear hats, gloves, and scarves to stay warm and protect against the cold.

• Stay Active: Encourage indoor physical activities to help maintain immunity.

• Wash Your Hands: Frequent handwashing is one of the best defenses against illness.

• Stay Hydrated: Drink plenty of fluids to keep your body hydrated, even in winter!

Immunization Records: If you’ve received a notice about missing immunizations, please submit updated records to the school nurse as soon as possible to ensure uninterrupted attendance.

Thank you for supporting our school community and ensuring the safety of our Cougars!

Call DASD Transportation if you need assistance with a bus after 4:00pm.
Phone number: 610-269-8460. Select the transportation prompt to be connected with someone who can help you.

Please refer to the link below this map for all the details for walkers or picking up students by car if you have not already done so. Many thanks!

Email: ewinfo@dasd.org
Website: https://ew.dasd.org/
Location: 435 Washington Ave, Downingtown, PA 19335, USA
Phone: 610-269-8282
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dasdew
Twitter: @dasd_ew